This past week I, along with a group of fellow Christians, embarked on a new venture. In partnership with Liberty Alliance, LLC – the No. 1 ranked conservative media conglomerate, according to Inc. Magazine – launched BarbWire.com.

Literally within minutes of the wire going live, the sin-obsessed left swooped in like a swarm of hate-filled locusts (more on that below).

I will, of course, continue my regular weekly exclusive column at WND, but I’m pretty excited about this new endeavor as well.

BarbWire’s “about” page explains our mission:

BarbWire.com is a motley mix of breaking news, intelligent cultural analysis, political pontification and cutting-edge opinion – all fueled by the Word of Life.

If you’re comfortable under deception, prepare to be made uncomfortable. We’re cutting free the totalitarian left’s barbwire.

When Philip Seymour Hoffman jabbed that needle into his arm for the last time, he triggered a myriad of news stories and public displays of grief and adoration. He was a talented actor who reached the pinnacle of his profession when received an Oscar for his performance in the film, Capote.

There is much we can learn from these recent events in one of the high end neighborhoods of New York City. Among them is that the notoriety of his death does not make it any more tragic than if he had been an unknown teenager seduced by the momentary euphoria of a drug induced high. Here was a man at the top of his profession, yet there was obviously something amiss in his life that drove him to his path down the road of chemical escapism.

As one who probably has seen his work, but has no lasting recollection of witnessing it, I can’t say I felt the sense of loss as when Elvis Press, John Belushi or even Nick Adams left us. I must also confess that I am much more disturbed by the flag draped coffins coming back from the middle east than I am about the passing of an over-privileged member of the Hollywood elite. Hoffman was, after all, an actor who made his living pretending to be someone he was not. However, he was a fellow human being, created to do wonderful and amazing things. In this, I feel the same sense of loss I would feel for anyone who leaves us at an early age… particularly as a result of bad decisions.

A few years ago, Reuters News reported that a nationwide poll conducted of the Russian people found that former dictator Josef Stalin was voted the third most popular historical figure. Over one-third of the Russian population participated in the poll.

Can you imagine? Stalin just might be the greatest mass-murderer in human history. Estimates of the body count during Stalin’s reign of terror range anywhere from 20-60 million, and that doesn’t include the millions of people who were starved, imprisoned, and tortured but who didn’t die. Only China’s Mao Tse-tung rivals Stalin’s butchery. Then, again, many Chinese people still love Mao Tse-tung, too.

How is it that people can laud and honor tyrants and butchers? How can people so easily submit to slavery and despotism?

No tyrant rises to power calling himself a tyrant. Tyranny is never sold as tyranny. Every tyrannical regime of history considered itself to be patriotic and compassionate; and the people who supported and submitted to such regimes considered themselves to be patriotic and compassionate, as well. The police state is never called that by those who promote it; they call it “law and order,” “keeping the peace,” “protecting the homeland,” etc.

Phil Robertson himself is certainly no lightweight. The Los Angeles Times has called him “a man of legendary individuality, who once passed up an opportunity to sign with the NFL because it might interfere with his hunting.” One of seven children raised in a log cabin in northern Louisiana with no electricity, bathtub, or toilet, Robertson grew up in a poor family living off garden fruits and vegetables; deer, squirrels, fish, and other animals that they hunted and fished; and the pigs, chickens, and cattle that they raised.

Nevertheless, in high school he became All-State in football, baseball, and track and received a football scholarship to Louisiana Tech University. At Tech, later football legend Terry Bradshaw was at the time benched as second-string to Robertson, who was star quarterback. And although Robertson chose to quit football in college for the freedom to hunt during duck season, he went on to receive a master’s degree in education, taught school, and became a commercial fisherman. In 1972, the young enterprising Robertson patented his first duck call and created the Duck Commander Company, which has been leveraged into today’s vast fortune and cultural phenomenon that includesDuck Dynasty. His autobiography Happy, Happy, Happy became a number oneNew York Times bestseller, and his new book for 2014, Phil-osophy, will share his philosophy of life, as he outlined in an interview before the release of his autobiography

My message is to get human beings to love God, love their neighbor and for the life of me I just don’t see the downside of human beings not being so mean to one another and actually care for one another and not steal from one another and not murder each other for their tennis shoes. That’s the message I have. . . . America and the world, we have a love problem. I’m trying to get people aware of that. A loving person is not going to pick up a spear or a knife because when the Ten Commandments were written it was before guns, and God was saying, “Look, quit murdering each other.” Now I’m just trying to say, “Folks, let’s try to love one another no matter what the color of their skin.”

The opening ceremony of each Olympics is a revealing window into the character and aspirations of the host country. China’s 2008 bigger, louder, longer spectacular left little of her hegemonic ambitions to the imagination; Britain’s 2012 descent into self-parody–from Shakespeare and Churchill to dancing nurses on government hospital beds and fake action heroes parachuting with figurehead monarchs–testified equally well to her flaccid quiescence. We can expect something along the Chinese line from Russia in a couple of weeks, but suppose Chicago had been successful in its bid to host the 2016 summer games. What would an opening ceremony in President Obama’s America (and hometown) look like?

Probably all too much like the British–another glimpse of the sun setting in the West: An opening dance number featuring Julia leading Pajama Boy around a cheery Organizing for Action office; an alternative lifestyles choir singing “We Are the World”; a video tribute to historic woman chiefs of state set to a mashup of Fleetwood Mac hits (ready for Hillary?); and, of course, a speech by the president himself as the better-than-fireworks grand finale–teleprompter, Greek columns, and all.

That the American regime, and American political culture with it, has changed is without question. But for those who yearn to recover some of the better aspects of the regime and culture that has passed us by, the question is: how?

The liberty movement lost another one of its patriarchs last Saturday. My friend, Jack McLamb, passed away. Without a doubt, Jack was one of the staunchest allies that liberty and constitutional government ever had. He was doing it and saying it a long time before most of us were even thinking about it. Jack was top shelf, one of the best. He will not be easily replaced.

Jack McLamb was a retired Phoenix, Arizona, police officer. He is still today the most decorated policeman in the State of Arizona. And just about every time that Jack would reference that honor, he would add, “I was also the most fired.” I think he was more proud of the second distinction than the first.

Jack McLamb was the originator of the “Officer Friendly” program where policemen would visit schoolchildren in the classroom. He was an Arizona Regional Police Academy Instructor and a hostage negotiator for the FBI. He was the publisher of “Aid & Abet” newsletter, and president of The American Citizens & Lawmen Association. He was also the author of Operation Vampire Killer 2000, which, in many respects, was years ahead of its time. Jack was an Oath Keeper and before Oath Keepers came along, Jack headed a national organization called Military and Police Against The New World Order. He was also a Vietnam veteran.

Everywhere I go, I meet people who seem to believe that it’s all over, that there is no hope, that freedom is forever doomed. The doom and gloomers are omnipresent. But there is a great line in the newest version of the movie “Red Dawn” that should help put it all in perspective. One of the freedom fighters says, “I’m still breathing so, it’s not over.” I love that line. I feel exactly the same way.

There is no question that the forces of globalism and socialism have pretty much had their way over the past few decades. And with very few exceptions, we don’t have a lot of allies in Washington, D.C., and in most State capitals. For that matter, we don’t have a lot of allies on Wall Street or in most classrooms. But that doesn’t mean that it’s over: not by a long shot.

Freedom didn’t have a majority in 1775 and 1776, either. I doubt that one could find any time in history when the proponents of liberty were ever in a majority. Sam Adams may have said it best when he said, “It does not take a majority to prevail…but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.”

In clear violation of op-ed protocol, this week I’m suspending prose and having a little good, clean, limericky fun at liberals’ expense because – well, because they just make it so darn easy. (Warning: Some are bad and others worse. Side effects may include groaning, nausea, vomiting and involuntary eye-rolling.)

Here they are in no particular order. Happy New Year, and may God bless you in 2014! (Yes, you too, my liberal friends.)

Duck Flap

There once was a fella named Phil,
With truisms liberals found shrill,
Though they cried for his head,
They got duck-slapped instead,
As old Phil just continues to chill.

New Years Day is a new beginning, an opportunity to start over. It is a chance to draw a line at the end of an old year and start fresh. It’s not that last year’s problems have gone away. We still have Barack Hussein Obama in the White House with Harry Reid and ineffective Republicans running congress. The problems they are creating will still with us in the new year… but that is all outside of each one of us. The new beginning is within each one of us, if will give it space.

In his book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey’s tells us that public victories are invariably preceded by private, internal victories. Before we can change the world around us, we need to overcome ourselves. We need to master our own inertia. That is the bad habits such as watching television rather than taking real action, hesitancy to speak up, failure to seek necessary knowledge and all sorts of other behaviors that keep us from doing and being what we were created to be. Everyone of us who is not pleased with what we accomplished over the past year… whether it be in the personal, business or political sphere is most likely aware of one or more factors holding them back… if we are completely honest with ourselves.

Watching this video of President Reagan’s Christmas message provided me with one more reminder of how far our country has fallen. The man loved our country and our values. He encouraged us to have the same feeling about this wonderful land.

Unfortunately, we now are led by those who cannot find happiness in America. There is no sense of love of country, only a dissatisfaction born of a lust for the possessions of those who have succeeded. It is accompanied by a drive to bring as much as possible under the control of the ruling class who believe they are so much smarter than the rest of us, even though many have never really left the halls of learning to accomplish anything of value.

Phil Robertson has been kicked off Duck Dynasty indefinitely for speaking out against one of the ruling class’s sacred cows – the homosexual community. To make things worse, he even quoted one of the sources most despised by those who worshiping at the feet of big government – the Bible. It makes no difference to them that our creator made His views perfectly clear in I Corinthians 6:9-10:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

It is common for those who believe in little more than themselves and human wisdom to be critical of the church and Christian teachings. Piers Morgan even had the audacity comment that the anachronistic Catholic Church needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century – as if changing human values should bring about changes in the church’s teaching.

In March of 1836, a young man of twenty-three years of age took his sword out of its scabbard and drew a line in the sand in front of an old mission outside of San Antonio, Texas, and called on the men defending that mission who were willing to stay on the ramparts and face an opposing army more than ten times their number to signify their commitment by stepping across the line. Of course, the young man was William Barrett Travis and the old mission was the Alamo. He could not have known it then, but Travis’ line in the sand would forever become the benchmark by which all future acts of commitment would be measured. In a mystical way, but, then again, in very real way, Travis’ line in the sand is being drawn again. Oh, it may not be a line in dirt drawn by the point of a sword; it is a line in the hearts of men being drawn by the Spirit of God.

My last three columns generated more responses than any three columns I have ever written, and I have been writing this column for some fifteen years. At first, the responses were mostly negative and often vitriolic. But this past week, responses have been over 90% positive and very enthusiastic. I am confident that the manner in which these columns have brought out intense emotion and determination on both sides is a microcosm of what is happening nationally. A line in the sand for freedom is being drawn once again.

This line in the sand for freedom is separating people in a major way. And this is not necessarily a bad thing. In the same way that God commanded Abram to separate from his home and kin, so, too, the Spirit of God is separating people many times from their friends, their neighbors, their kinfolk, and, yes, their church families. I seem to recall that during the period of the early church, the conflict of principle forever separated the apostles Paul and Silas. And during America’s War for Independence, the conflict of principle separated Benjamin Franklin and his son William–as it did tens of thousands of others.

This column dated November 21, 2013, created a firestorm of outrage and venom from hundreds of pastors and Christians. It was a rude awakening for me, for sure. I have long maintained that the vast majority of today’s pastors and church members are smugly content in abject apathy and indifference. However, after the vehement reaction to the above-mentioned column, I can now state dogmatically that the problem is actually much, much worse than I realized. Today’s churchmen are not merely content to not being involved; they are absolutely committed to not being involved. It goes much deeper than apathy; it is apostasy.

My email inbox and mailbox filled with vitriolic rebukes from pastors and Christians. I was called just about every dirty name in the book and relegated to the depths of the damned–and those were the mild ones. At the heart of these feelings of contempt is the rejection of Natural Law. It’s not only that today’s pastors and Christians have not been taught the Biblical principles of Natural Law and, therefore, don’t understand it; today’s churchmen have developed a willful and stubborn conviction against Natural Law.

I will even go so far as to say that the majority of our pastors and church leaders today are monarchists at heart. The lack of instruction and understanding of the Biblical principles of Natural Law have created a generation of churchmen who are more than willing to submit to the unnatural laws of tyranny and oppression. Until two weeks ago, I didn’t truly comprehend the depth of this volitional slavery.

We have seen much over the past few days about the greatness of South Africa’s former President, Nelson Mandela. We were told about all the inspirational things he said and how he led the effort to eliminate apartheid that oppressed the black majority in his country. It was a job that needed to be done, but under the leadership of Mandela’s African National Congress, South Africa has been reduced from a prosperous western power to a crime ridden third world nation.

Most reports simply say that he was a political prisoner for twenty-seven years. The reality of his imprisonment was that he could have been released at various points if he had simply renounced the use of violence. It could be argued that there are times when that this would be appropriate, however when we see the violence perpetrated by his supporters on their political enemies, we see that much was not done to the oppressive government, but against citizens of their land.

The idea of placing a tire around someone’s neck, filling it with gasoline and igniting is too barbaric and meant simply as an exercise in terrorism that fed the lust for revenge. However, this has all been reported, but generally ignored.

[Being so wrapped up in thinking of ourselves as the center of the universe, we sometimes forget that this is not the only time our country faced threats and dangers. This is the text of President John Adams' March 23, 1798 national Fasting and Prayer proclamation; as printed in the The Phenix/Windham Herald, April 12, 1798.]

By the President of the United States of America

A PROCLAMATION

AS the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and blessing of Almighty God; and the national acknowledgment of this truth is not only an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him, but a duty whose natural influence is favorable to the promotion of that morality and piety, without which social happiness cannot exist, nor the blessings of a free government be enjoyed; and as this duty, at all times incumbent, is so especially in seasons of difficulty and of danger, when existing or threatening calamities, the just judgments of God against prevalent iniquity are a loud call to repentance and reformation; and as the United States of America are at present placed in a hazardous and afflictive situation, by the unfriendly disposition, conduct and demands of a foreign power, evinced by repeated refusals to receive our messengers of reconciliation and peace, by depredations on our commerce, and the infliction of injuries on very many of our fellow citizens, while engaged in their lawful business on the seas: —Under these considerations it has appeared to me that the duty of imploring the mercy and benediction of Heaven on our country, demands at this time a special attention from its inhabitants.

Last night I watched a sci-fi classic with one of my favorite actors, Charlton Heston: Soylent Green. The film shared a theme common to many futuristic dramas like Terminator, Demolition Man and, more recently, Hunger Games, as well as the Dark Angel TV series, not to mention literature from the likes of George Orwell. That theme was an economically decimated population ruled with an iron fist by a small, but wealthy, elite.

In the past these scenarios seemed to be little more than the product of creative, but cynical, minds. However, to many observers, events in recent years have shown that we are on the path to such a desolate future in our land… even in the absence of a global conflict or massive EMP attack.

Fat and happy Americans have been enjoying the blessings of our national prosperity for years to the point where we have been lulled into the false confidence that this condition would continue indefinitely, carried on by the momentum of past successes. After all, we survived the best efforts of Franklin Roosevelt, the incompetence of Jimmy Carter and the lying lips of Billary Clinton. Yet, with each of these presidents and the less audacious work of the supposedly more conservative party, we have inched our way closer and closer to subservience to the ruling class firmly ensconced along the Potomac and in banking capitals around the world.

A fellow pastor wrote a Facebook response to my column last week, which was entitled, “Our Friends Are Killing Us.” In the column I wrote, “By the same token, how long are Christians today who say they believe in the Second Amendment (and the rest of the Bill of Rights) going to keep sending their tithes and offerings to these churches where the pastors refuse to publicly resist these draconian gun control bills such as were recently introduced by Obama and Feinstein? How long are they going to keep filling the pews of these do-nothing churches? As long as these say-nothing pastors see their pews and offering plates full, don’t expect anything to change.

“I will say it plainly: if you attend a church and didn’t hear your pastor oppose the Obama/Feinstein gun control bills from the pulpit earlier this year, YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF THAT CHURCH. The only thing holding this republic together is the people’s right to keep and bear arms–especially semi-automatic rifles with large-capacity magazines. By refusing to resist evil, your pastor has become an enemy of liberty. Wittingly or not, he is helping to put the chains of slavery around the necks of your children and grandchildren. Why would you stay and support such a pastor and church?”

In response to my column, the pastor posted these remarks on a friend’s Facebook page: “A pastor’s call from God has nothing to do with fighting for any liberty guaranteed by any human government or document. I will fight and die for our Constitution, but that has nothing to do with my call as a pastor, that is my responsibility as an American, not a pastor. Nor is it the responsibility of any pastor in that calling. We are called to only one form of liberty, and it is not so frail as that offered by any human government. The liberty we are called to proclaim is the liberty that was purchased by the shed blood of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, at Calvary, the only liberty which can never be taken nor infringed. While I support the author’s passion and personally speak out defending the second amendment, he is absolutely wrong to accuse men of God of being enemies of liberty simply because they do not engage publicly in the fight for the second amendment. He clearly does not understand the spiritual calling responsibility of a pastor.”

There is a prophetic verse of Scripture that records the conquering Messiah as being asked about the wounds that are in his hands. He responds, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” (Zechariah 13:6 KJV) Indeed. It wasn’t the Romans that were fixated with killing Christ; it was the Lord’s own brethren. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” (John 1:11 KJV) In like manner, our nation is quickly losing its liberties and Natural rights, not because of our enemies, but because of our so-called friends and brothers.

Edmund Burke summarized it beautifully: “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” And, for the most part, that is what good men are doing today: nothing!

As regular readers of this column know, I am passionate in my defense of the Natural right of self-defense. I firmly believe that the only thing standing between us and tyranny is the right of the people to keep and bear arms. The freedom of speech, the right to assemble and redress government, the right to be secure in our own homes, the right to a trial by jury, the freedom of worship, etc., all depend on the right of the people to keep and bear arms. When the people of America surrender this right, all of the other rights will quickly disappear.

Furthermore, Daniel Webster was absolutely right when he said, “Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6,000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world.” Amen!

The battle within the Republican Party these days seems to be breaking down between those who believe they can work with the Democrats and those who are working to stop the party in power from destroying our country. Years ago, this was the way Washington once worked. Democrats – old style Democrats – were patriots who loved their country. They just wanted the government to do more for the people than the GOP.

It could be argued that such is not the case today. The Obama regime is taking our country in a completely different direction that we have taken in the past. The people who make the nation work have a greatly different idea of the way the world functions. Then we have the Republican leadership and many of their followers who believe the party is the salvation of the nation. This may be almost as foolish those who look to Obama and the Democrat Party to take care of their wants and needs.

American patriots, tea partiers and the like, understand the damage this socialization is doing to our economy and our people. It is difficult to comprehend how anyone could consider cooperating with their disastrous schemes is a workable plan for restoring prosperity and freedom. It is a plan for increasing unemployment, destroying what is left of the health insurance industry and putting our health care system under the iron fist of uncaring bureaucrats.

Obama’s nomination of Janet Yellen to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve was joyously received in Wall Street. Reassured that the “Greenspan put” (the readiness of the Federal Reserve to pump fiat dollars into the financial system to shore up stock and bond prices) remains in force, stock and bond market speculators turned on a dime and pumped the markets back up after word of Yellen’s nomination. Financial market speculation will remain a no-risk game as long as the Greenspan put survives; speculators can be confident that they can borrow whatever amounts they need, at far-below-real-market interest rates.

Even more than current Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, Yellen has been an aggressive supporter of flooding the financial markets with trillions of phony, fiat dollars. Bernanke and Yellen both believe that the continuing inflation of stock market and bond prices will create a “wealth effect” that will fully revive the economy. So far, their expectations, to put it kindly, have not been met by economic performance. We continue to endure the slowest economic recovery since that of the the 1930s socialistic New Deal.

Main Street America will just have to keep scavenging for crumbs, while Wall Street speculators rake in huge trading profits, courtesy of the Fed.

In a free-market economy, little of which remains today, investors would focus on real, underlying economic factors such as the growth outlook for corporate sales and profits, along with increases in the numbers of well-paying, full-time jobs. Stock market prices would reflect that sort of fundamental analysis. More importantly, the stock and bond markets would be funded by individuals’ savings, not by the expectation that banks and hedge funds could continue indefinitely to borrow unlimited amounts of short term money at near zero rates of interest.

There has been a lot of discussion about the many injustices in both our laws and in the selective enforcement of them. Rather than regurgitate and summarize current thinking, it would be good to look back at the words of one who spent, and gave, his life fighting the injustices of his time.

On April 16, 1963, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was sitting in a Birmingham, Alabama and he wrote a response to the criticism of those pastors he was attempting to help. They had been afflicted by the complacency and acceptance of the status quo. King seems like he felt he was trying to push a rope. It is understandable that those benefiting from the segregationist culture would resent the appearance of an “outsider” defending the rights of the oppressed, but it really bothered him that black pastors joined in the criticism.

The entire letter is too long to reproduce here, but I would suggest reading the entire correspondence as it has much to say that applies to our situation today. However, the good Reverend’s thought on injustice and unjust laws is particularly pointed in today’s world.

The segment below, as well as the balance of King’s letter needs to read in the context of another one of his thoughts that may help guide us through our troubled times: “If your opponent has a conscience, then follow Ghandi and non-violence. But if your enemy has no conscience like Hitler, then follow Bonhoeffer”

Are Americans ready to accept a police state? Are pastors and Christians ready to accept a police state? Are Republicans and conservatives ready to accept a police state? Are Democrats and liberals ready to accept a police state? Are there truly enough people left in this country who even understand what a police state is, and if they do, would they really support it?

I can hear many readers shouting, “No!” But I truly wonder just how many Americans have already accepted the police state in their hearts and minds. It is absolutely true that before despots and tyrants can put shackles around men’s necks, they must first put them around men’s hearts. So, just how many of the American people are walking around every day with shackles already around their hearts? How many pastors mount the pulpits with shackles around their hearts? How many teachers enter the classroom with shackles around their hearts? How many State lawmakers walk into their various capitols with shackles around their hearts? How many police officers get into their squad cars with shackles around their hearts? How many military personnel put on their uniforms with shackles around their hearts?

Those of us who are passionate about the freedom fight spend a lot of time discussing and debating the nuances of how best to protect liberty. Except for a precious few, our State governors, attorney generals, legislators, senators, mayors, county commissioners, city councilmen, etc., are doing a fantastically lousy job of honoring their oaths to the Constitution and to the principles contained in our Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights. Except for a precious few, our pastors, deacons, elders, and church leaders are doing a fantastically lousy job of defending freedom principles. Except for a precious few, our civic and business leaders are doing a fantastically lousy job of defending liberty. And needless to say, you could put the people on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., who are even doing diddly-squat about preserving liberty into an old-fashioned phone booth.

The founders’ many warnings about standing armies may seem rather quaint in an age of supersonic jets and ICBMs — or not, when we consider the legions of new bureaucrats about to enlist indefinitely in Obamacare’s army.

Despite the increasing unpopularity of Obamacare and the headlines announcing exploding health insurance premiums in one state after another, the GOP’s smooth operators are counseling conservatives to simply get out of the way. They’re promising to translate the Obamacare “train wreck” into a big 2014 mid-term election victory if the Senate’s “wacko birds” don’t alienate moderate voters by attempting to defund Obamacare. Having been around many a DC block, Republican political professionals suggest, once again, that the prudent fight is just after the next election.

But the Tea Party’s rise and political success suggests that many Americans have had enough of fiddling while Rome burns — and enough of a Republican establishment that talks about our founding principles but seems more interested in leading the next congressional majority that mocks them. Just in time, too. For while success by reformers in states like Wisconsin, Indiana, and Texas suggests that it is not too late for action, Detroit’s bankruptcy (and Chicago’s looming fiscal catastrophe) shows that the clock is ticking.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary (online version) defines negotiate as “to discuss something formally in order to make an agreement”. This requires that those involved actually discuss the issues at hand. It precludes the idea that one side enters the process with a declaration that they will not negotiate.

When faced with this situation, the other side is faced with greatly limited options. It requires wisdom, courage and a commitment to achieving a satisfactory outcome. The Republicans attempting to face down Barack Hussein Obama on his signature legislation, unfortunately, had major deficits in all these areas.

To be fair, they were up against an ideological sociopath who believed he would pay no price for shutting down the government and inflicting pain upon the people. The fact that he was willing to follow that path showed that he was unsuited for any position of leadership, but that is a discussion for another day. The fact is that he actually thought it was to his benefit to eliminate services and facilities the public liked and desired. The threat of a shutdown did not frighten the president, realistically, he welcomed it.

Pat Buchanan recently wrote an intriguing column titled, “Is Red State America Seceding?” His column clearly reveals that an independence/secession movement is spreading globally. Pat rightly observes that in just the last few years some 25 nations have broken free of mother countries and formed their own independent states. And, no, most of these separations did NOT require violent revolution. In addition, talk of secession is currently going on in at least six other regions of the world. And, as Buchanan correctly observes, the spirit of secession is very much alive and well in the United States.

Buchanan writes, “The five counties of western Maryland–Garrett, Allegany, Washington, Frederick and Carroll, which have more in common with West Virginia and wish to be rid of Baltimore and free of Annapolis, are talking secession.”

But people in Maryland are not the only ones talking secession. Buchanan continues to write, “Ten northern counties of Colorado are this November holding non-binding referenda to prepare a future secession from Denver and the creation of America’s 51st state.”

Well, Obamacare is now in effect. The decision by Congress to pass Obamacare into law back in 2010 ranks among the most draconian, most egregious, most horrific actions ever taken by the central government in Washington, D.C. This bill rocks the principles of liberty and constitutional government to the core. It changes fundamental foundations; it repudiates historic values. The same flag may fly on our flagpoles, the same monuments may grace our landscape, and the same National Anthem may be sung during our public ceremonies, but it is not the same America. For all intents and purposes, our nation now more resembles the socialist countries of the old communist East Bloc than it does the constitutional republic of the old land of the free.

I was honored to have been invited to be the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons recently in Denver. It was a very large gathering of physicians from all over the country. And I can tell you that the doctors I spoke with are all very, very concerned about the future of healthcare in the United States. Take a peek at the condition of healthcare in socialist countries throughout the world or take a peek at the condition of healthcare in our VA clinics and hospitals, and you will get a little feel for what healthcare is going to quickly look like in America.

On March 21, 2010, Congress passed, and on March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the dreaded national health care bill into law, and as such, these dates join a list of dates that have contributed to the destruction of a free America. Of course, there are several such dates, but, in my opinion, the following are the most draconian.

With his inspirational and unprecedented show of leadership on the floor of the U.S. Senate this past week, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, made hundreds of enemies in Washington.

But more importantly, he made millions of friends across America.

When you have both liberal Democrats and mealy-mouthed establishment RINOs (Republicans in name only) allying against you, you know you’ve got the bead over the beltway “good ol’ boys’” center-mass. Mr. Cruz emasculated, delightfully, Obama’s political yes-bots on both sides of the aisle.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., was both a sponsor of – and cheerleader for – Obamacare. That was, of course, because he evidently followed Nancy Pelosi’s obtuse advice “to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”

Famed news man, Edward R. Murrow told us, “A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.” He knew well that this was true as he covered the World War II as well as the years leading up to the conflict and those following. His knowledge of people falling under the control of an all powerful government was more than theoretical as he saw the horror it produced.

When Robert Small stood up in the Peoples Republic of Maryland to question the implementation of Common Core standards in the local schools, he found himself being bullied out of the room and is now facing up to ten years in prison for having the temerity to question the wisdom of his betters at a forum held by the Maryland Department of Education. A vindictive administration is charging him with disturbing the functions of a school which carries thousands of dollars in fines, and assaulting a police officer which could land him in prison.

Here we go again. We have another mass shooting at yet another “gun-free” zone. Not only was the location a “gun-free” zone, it was located inside the nation’s capital, which has some of the strictest gun-control laws in the entire country.

I thought gun-control laws and “gun-free” zones were supposed to protect people from gun violence. If one listens to the vast majority of talking heads on network and cable news shows, including Piers Morgan and Joe Scarborough, that is exactly what we are led to believe. But in reality, just the opposite is true. “Gun-Free” zones are actually “Free Killing” zones. And in truth, guns don’t kill people; gun-control laws kill people.

This is the second time in recent memory when some wacko shoots up a military installation. The first killer was a Muslim; this one was a Buddhist. He also happened to be a black man and an Obama supporter. This combination must drive the politically-correct mainstream media and the left-wing extremist hate group, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), batty. According to these folks, the only people who commit gun violence are angry Christian white guys. But as most of us know, no race or religion or political affiliation has a monopoly on criminal conduct. Unless it’s those miscreants in Washington, D.C., of course.

On September 17, 1787 the US Constitution was signed by 39 American patriots. We hear a lot from people who want to tell us what they think the document says. They would take the combined work of the men whose endurance of the hardships of the first American Revolution gave them a unique perspective on the country they were forming.

Politicians and commentators have not given to the nation what the founders did, yet they think they have a better idea of how a country should work. They the believe their wisdom is superior to both the rest of us and the courageous founders. Unfortunately, I have seen neither the wisdom nor the courage of those who would take us in another direction. They believe that the nation that was born out of a struggle with an oppressive government should now have an oppressive, controlling leader of its own.

Lets look at what some of these men had to say:

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.John Adams

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